Greenchain falls to Broncs

| January 28, 2013 4:27 PM

Ryan Murray

Reporter

In its first home match in well over a month, Logger Greenchain wrestling faced off yet again with the Frenchtown Broncs and came up short, losing 45-18.

Despite winning their first three matches by decision, the Loggers then slipped behind. The Broncs got a free 18 points from forfeits.

Greenchain battled the Broncs at a double-dual meet Jan. 10, then saw the same wrestlers at the large Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic Jan. 11 and 12.

Despite the familiarity with Frenchtown, Libby struggled with an improved Broncs squad.

“The biggest thing was wrestling for six full minutes,” said Frenchtown coach Jesse Long. “We keep grinding. That’s the difference.”

Ricky Roach, Garrett Chapel, Josh Bowers, Zach Crace and Skylar Higareda won their matches for Libby.

Roach, who had pinned his opponent, Jack Nerison, before, won a 3-1 decision. He thought he saw Greenchain’s problem against the Broncs.

“I think, as a whole, we need to work on confidence,” Roach said. “We spent too much time on the bottom. Maybe we need to be more intense at practice.”

On the plus side for Libby, injured athletes were making returns to the mat.

State champion Mitch Haugen, in his first return from a shoulder injury, lost a decision 5-4 to Frenchtown’s Cody Lemons. Austin Bailey also returned to the mat. Ian Edwards-Myslicki is due to return soon.

Despite the loss, Greenchain’s Head Coach Kelly Morford saw a lot of good.

“The first matches we wrestled, we wrestled with a lot of grit,” he said. “But we spent a lot of time on bottom with our heads on the mat.”

Logger Greenchain will face Polson at home Thursday for Senior Night.

Frenchtown 45, Libby 18; 98- Bagnell (F) forfeit, 105- Warner (F) forfeit, 112- Ishler (F) pins Height (L) 3:25, 119- Blanchard (F) Maj. dec. Roby (L) 15-4, 125- Downer (F) Tech. dec. Williams (L) 13-0, 130- Crace (L) pins Stenerson (F) 3:27, 135- Lemons (F) dec. Haugen (L) 5-4, 140- Higareda (L) dec. Wilson (F) 5-1, 145- Roach (L) dec. Nerison (F) 3-1, 152- Chapel (L) dec. Fisher (F) 8-7, 160- Bowers (L) OT dec. Womack (F) 8-6, 171- Anderson (F) dec. Bailey (L) 7-4, 189- Gordon (F) forfeit, 215- Pritzkau (F) dec. Dolezal (L) 1-0, 285- Zuraff (F) pins McGough (L) :56.